Page 36 of Lacey's Warriors

“That’s the understatement of the year,” Lacey growled.

“Lord Rell believes that Lady Melissi has recently become aware that Gwarnon plans on taking a great many of Lady Melissi’s citizens to what should be your new Territory. She is, of course, furious at the betrayal and wants to punish Gwarnon, Chel, and you. Lord Rell believes that the High Congress, due in part to her influence, will demand you relinquish your Territory, and all the people in it, to Gwarnon’s mother for safekeeping during a short time of exile to a prison island—probably no more than five or ten years. I could petition for control as well, but everyone highly doubts the votes would go in my favor. Not only am I a new Matriarch, I’m from Earth, which is a one two punch against me right now. Whereas Lady Melissi, despite all of her manipulations, still manages to maintain a good public persona. She would no doubt get stewardship of the land.”

Lacey chewed her lower lip before she said, “And her first act would no doubt be to get revenge on those who’d been rescued by Gwarnon, or left her Territory for his. Not to mention, I could easily see her burning an entire Territory down to ashes out of spite.”

“Exactly.” Her mom nodded, her blonde curls the exact same shade of pale blonde as Lacey’s shimmering in the moonlight. “But Lord Rell has a plan to prevent that. It isn’t an ideal situation, but it is better than nothing.”

A tiny, glowing red bird buzzed past their bubble, it’s bright light distracting Lacey momentarily before she turned back to her mother. “What’s the plan?”

“Well, it’s com—”

Lacey held up her hand with a grin. “Wait, let me guess? It’s complicated.”

“Yes, smart butt.” Her mom rolled her eyes. “Itiscomplicated. But this time, those complicated laws are working in our favor. And it helps that we have Lady Elsin on our side.”

Lacey’s crystal implant helpfully supplied that Lady Elsin was basically the leader of the Northern Continent and an immensely powerful woman. Four of her seven sons had died in battle with the Hive, and of the three remaining, one happened to be a Warrior by the name of Lorn—now known as Lorn Westfall, Casey Westfall’s husband, and Roxy’s brother-in-law.

Tara’s gaze grew distant as she said with a fond smile, “Lady Elsin reminded me of the old Kadothian law about giving a daughter of a Matriarch land to start her own Territory before she’s mated. It is a law leftover from the days before the Great War that resulted in the Hive, one probably long forgotten, but still valid and used on occasion for cases like ours—where the daughter was born before the bonding. The original Kadothian Matriarchs were inherently territorial and having two strong women living in one household was a recipe for trouble. To help keep fights from breaking out, once a daughter reached a certain age and became engaged, her mother would give that daughter a piece of Territory to call her own and live on. It was up to the daughter to hold that land and make it prosper and a way to avoid siblings fighting over the Territory.” Her mom grinned at her. “You, my dear, are an unmarried young Kadothian woman, daughter of a Matriarch, engaged and about to go off on her own. I would like to gift you with some Territory I was recently given by Lady Elsin on Madre Tierra as a bonding present.”

Another barrage of information flooded Lacey’s mind as her crystal implant helpfully supplied that the moon Madre Tierra was roughly 2.5 times the size of the real Earth. It was named by the first Earth female to become a Matriarch, a poor young woman from Mexico City. She’d decided to name the planet Madre Tierra, or Mother Earth, in hopes that it would be the cradle for a new, better civilization than the one she’d left behind.

Over the centuries, the Kadothians had transformed a few of their many moons into habitable worlds, replicating the planets that Matriarch’s had left behind which no longer existed. Her gazed snagged on one moon, a bright orange, peach, and gold planet with pink swirls for clouds. That particular planet was a replica of another world that had been destroyed by a meteorite three thousand years ago.And that was Kadothian years, so in human years—

“Lacey.” Her mom snapped her fingers, startling her out of learning about the bride moons, as they were known.

“I’m paying attention, sorry,” Lacey said as she shook her head. “Sorry, still getting used to this crystal implant. It’s so weird to think a question then just…learn the answer.”

“It’s like the Internet,” her mom agreed as she shifted and rearranged her black dress. “But way worse for getting sucked into. Karwin likes to catch me staring off into space and teases me that I have drool running down my chin as I learn new things.” Her face went kind of blank for a moment, then the familiar ‘can do’ fire started to flare in her blue eyes. “Right, we have to get going. Are you ready for the ceremony?”

“Ceremony?”

“Yes, we need to broadcast it to your husbands. Phin sent me a mental message that we need to get moving.” Her mom stood up, the black gown she wore falling around her feet in a swirl of fabric. “Come on, lazy bones. Up and at ‘em.”

Standing, Lacey hurried to catch up to her mother after she’d removed the privacy bubble. “Where are we going? What ceremony?”

“The one to give you land on Madre Tierra so you and your husbands can start your own Territory and don’t have to worry about what will happen if the High Congress takes your Territory on Kadothia.” Her mom gave her an arch look. “Did you hear a word I said?”

Musing that she could still feel like a chastised little kid, even though she was twenty-two, Lacey snorted. “I was listening. But why a public ceremony, and why do we have to hurry?”

“Gwarnon’s people, your future citizens, are all waiting in orbit around Madre Tierra, waiting for you to officially claim the Territory under the old Matriarchal laws, so they can land and start working on making it their new home. You’ve got close to a million people in orbit or waiting to transport to Madre Tierra.” That made Lacey stagger to a stop, but her mom grabbed her hand and dragged her along. “Come on. Hustle. We need to get this done. Phin says Gwarnon and Chel are about to face the High Congress.”

They rushed past a nighttime garden filled with glowing delights Lacey would have loved to explore if her mom hadn’t been ripping her arm out of her socket.

Evidently, Lacey wasn’t the only one who’d gone through the transition and come out stronger for it.

They approached a door leading into what looked like an enormous stone manor perched among the vast limbs of the trees. As big as an eight-lane highway, the trees branches felt more like roads than vegetation. Her crystal tried to flare to life and tell her all about the trees, but she shut it down. She needed to focus if they were going to outwit Lady Melissi and her allies on the High Congress.

Chapter 10

Gwarnon

He stared at the holographic display of his mother, the technology making it appear as if she actually sat at the table across from him on his ship.

With long, blue streaked black hair like his own and lovely silver eyes, she was one of the most physically beautiful women the Lord of Life had created. She used that beauty like a weapon, though it was ineffective against him. Not only was he her son, but he loathed her and knew her soul and mind were tainted. Despite this fact, she’d dressed for seduction—as usual. Her prefect breasts pressed up in her black Matriarch gown for full effect, the gleam of her bonds evident against her pale skin. Behind her, his four fathers stood, her men either just as depraved as her or too weak to stop her.

At Gwarnon’s side stood Chel, and his blood brother’s hatred for Lady Melissi mixed with Gwarnon’s own. Both men were dressed in their officer’s uniforms, the deep green of Chel’s armor reflecting the light while the black Gwarnon wore seemed to absorb it. Lacey had only been gone for ten hours, but he already seethed with the need to go look for her. Lord Rell swore he would find her, but Gwarnon was running out of patience. With every moment that passed without Lacey, his inner beast got stronger and stronger, clawing at the bonds surrounding his soul, making Gwarnon linger alarmingly close to what his soul knew was the Madness.

He would have lost his mind hours ago if he hadn’t abruptly felt waves of love, so strong they brought him to his knees, resonate through his bond with Lacey.

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